Trump honors Super Bowl champion Patriots at White House

Standing on a platform in front of one of the nation’s iconic buildings, the 2016 Patriots were honored by President Donald Trump.

By Mark Daniels@MarkDanielsPJ

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Overcast skies and cool temperatures wouldn’t ruin this day. The same could be said about the tragedy and controversy that surrounded the New England Patriots' visit to the White House on Wednesday.

Standing on a platform in front of one of the nation’s iconic buildings, the 2016 Patriots

were honored by President Donald Trump. Not everyone from the Super Bowl LI team was there and not everyone agrees with the President’s policies, but on this day the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history was the focus.

“With your backs against the wall and the pundits, good ole pundits - boy, they’re wrong a lot, aren’t they? Saying you couldn’t do it, the game was over,” Trump said. “You pulled the greatest Super Bowl comeback of all time, one of the greatest comebacks of all time and that was just special.”

The newly elected President spoke for just under 10 minutes, praising the Patriots and their many accomplishments.

Trump lauded the Patriots, Bill Belichick and his players on their fifth Super Bowl championship. Trump also told the story of how Belichick wrote him a letter to help his campaign during last year’s election and compared the coach’s motto to his own.

“Whether you’re trying to win a Super Bowl or rebuild our country, as coach Belichick would say, there are no days off,” Trump said.

The day should’ve been full of celebration, but several other controversies have come up surrounding this Washington, D.C. trip.

Although he was originally expected on attending, Tom Brady didn’t travel with the Patriots to the White House. The quarterback released a statement citing personal reasons for missing the trip. Brady’s mother, Galynn, who has been battling an illness, was reportedly in Boston on Wednesday.

“In light of some recent developments, I am unable to attend today’s ceremony, as I am attending to some personal family matters,” Brady said in a statement via ESPN. “Hopefully, if we accomplish the goal of winning a championship in future years, we will be back on the South Lawn again soon.”

But players skipping out on the White House trip wasn’t the only alternative storyline hovering over this otherwise joyous day.

On the morning of the Patriots’ celebration, former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez committed suicide. Hernandez, who was a teammate of several players still on the roster, was found in his cell, hung by his own bed sheet, by correction officers at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Mass. Hernandez was pronounced dead at 4:07 a.m. at UMass Memorial-HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster, roughly 10 hours prior to the Patriots ceremony.

The Patriots moved on from Hernandez long ago, releasing the tight end in the summer of 2013. After winning their second Super Bowl without him, the Patriots continued on that course with no one offering comment after the event.

Instead, the focus was on the positive.

Belichick and Robert Kraft briefly spoke and thanked the President. During the ceremony, Trump also went through and highlighted several plays and individual players, including Julian Edelman’s catch, Trey Flowers' big sacks and rookie Malcolm Mitchell’s performance. Trump also lauded long snapper Joe Cardona for his service in the Navy.

“It almost brought me to tears,” Mitchell said. “As a child growing up, I would have never thought a president would’ve said my name by any means, but it’s just a representation of hard work that the team put in. I was just luck enough to be a part of it.”

Prior to the ceremony, the players ate lunch inside the White House and checked out the inside of the historic building. In the end, it was a fitting ending to an outstanding season.

“It’s an incredible honor to visit the center of the American Government. Such a historic place that is uniquely America,” Cardona said. “It is an incredible honor for myself and my teammates to be here and to get such a warm reception.

“[We] got to see everything. Got a chance to eat a meal in the White House. Pretty incredible. It was a great experience all around.”

— Mark Daniels writes for the Providence Journal of GateHouse Media.

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